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Understanding the sensory characteristics of edible insects to promote entomophagy: A projective sensory experience among consumers

  • Alfonso Piscitelli
  • Roberto Fasanelli
  • Elena Cuomo
  • Ida Galli

In recent years, a remarkable number of studies have investigated sensory characteristics, such as flavor and texture, of edible insect and insect-based foods, their contribution to consumers’ attitudes toward edible insects are important in consumer appeal and their willingness to try eating insects in the future. This paper addresses the problem of describing the sensory characteristics aof edible insect and insect-based foods in terms of preferences. To this end, we conducted a study to explore the representations of sensory experiences related to an insect-based dish involving a voluntary sample of 154 consumers. The quasi-experiment, which we have called projective sensory experience (PSE), follows a two-step procedure. In the first step, we asked the participants to imagine tasting an insect-based dish and then to rate, from 1 (imperceptible) up to 10 (very perceptible), the following taste-olfactory sensations: Sapidity, Bitter tendency, Acidity, Sweet, Spiciness, Aroma, Greasiness-Unctuosity, Succulence, Sweet, Fatness, Persistence. In the second step, we asked our interviewees to indicate, through a specific check-list, which was the most disturbing and least disturbing taste-olfactory sensation imagined. We collected data from May to July 2020 by using an anonymous on-line questionnaire. Results could help understand the sensory characteristics of “insects as food” that should be used or avoided, for example, in communication aimed at promoting familiarity with edible insects and improving the acceptability of insects as a novel food.

  • Keywords:
  • Edible insect,
  • Projective sensory experience,
  • Consumers’ preference,
  • Entomophagy,
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Alfonso Piscitelli

University of Naples Federico II, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-6638-2759

Roberto Fasanelli

University of Naples Federico II, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-8908-3284

Elena Cuomo

University of Naples Federico II, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-7526-2353

Ida Galli

University of Naples Federico II, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-5159-9162

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Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Understanding the sensory characteristics of edible insects to promote entomophagy: A projective sensory experience among consumers

Authors

Alfonso Piscitelli, Roberto Fasanelli, Elena Cuomo, Ida Galli

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-461-8.42

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2021

Copyright Information

© 2021 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

ASA 2021 Statistics and Information Systems for Policy Evaluation

Book Subtitle

BOOK OF SHORT PAPERS of the on-site conference

Editors

Bruno Bertaccini, Luigi Fabbris, Alessandra Petrucci

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2021

Copyright Information

© 2021 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-461-8

eISBN (pdf)

978-88-5518-461-8

eISBN (xml)

978-88-5518-462-5

Series Title

Proceedings e report

Series ISSN

2704-601X

Series E-ISSN

2704-5846

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